If there is one man who can give hope to a species whose numbers have plummeted from 100,000 only a century ago, it would be Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Putin and the World Bank are hosting the International Forum on Tiger Conservation, bringing together the leaders of 13 nations to discuss what could be the best and last chance to save the wild tiger. The summit features high level officials from every major tiger country, a first in the history of tiger conservation.

Putin, the former President and KGB officer, has a tough political image. But in the conservation community, he is a champion of the tiger. In 2008 he received a female tiger cub as a birthday gift. Mashenka spent at least three days sleeping in a wicker basket at Putin's home before being given to a zoo. The pair met the Russian press and images of Putin with Mashenka flooded the media.

Barney Long, the head of the WWF U.S. Tiger Program said the scale of the summit is "almost solely down to Putin. It is he who is reaching out, turning this from technical meetings into a real political event."

Putin is joined in St. Petersburg, Russia, by the leaders of the last remaining countries where tigers exist in the wild, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam. That is less than 7 percent of their historic range.

"Russia is well placed to host the summit. They are already a leader in terms of taking steps to try and save their own species. The Siberian tiger is one of few success stories," Zain said.

Russia's far east is now home to roughly 400 Siberian tigers, accounting for 9 percent of wild tigers in the world.

Agreement signed for efforts to preserve the tigers is signed in St. Petersburg, representatives of the Governments of those countries where tigers live, including Russia and China.

The document was the result of tiger forum in Russia's northern capital, where participants discussed ways to save the predator from extinction. At the beginning of XX century, tigers on the planet was about 100,000, but within a century they remained a little over 3 thousand.

Director-General of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) James Leape said in St. Petersburg that the Tigers could completely disappear from the face of the earth within the next 12 years. Less pessimistic experts say about 20-30 years.

The St. Petersburg, Russia, summit featured leaders from all 13 countries where tigers still live in the wild: Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.

It also enjoyed some celebrity backing as DiCaprio not only attended the summit, he committed $1 million to the cause.

"Illegal poaching of tigers for their parts and massive habitat loss due to palm oil, timber and paper production are driving this species to extinction," the actor said in a statement. "If we don't take action now, one of the most iconic animals on our planet could be gone in just a few decades. By saving tigers, we can also protect some of our last remaining ancient forests and improve the lives of indigenous communities."

While a substantial portion of the funding comes from the so-called tiger countries, the international community provided the majority of the money. The WWF, the Wildlife Conservation Society and the World Bank have pledged a collective $200 million.

The Hollywood star Leonardo DiCapriop arrived in St. Petersburg on Tuesday after two flight dramas, Putin said, just managing to make the meeting where officials from the 13 countries where tigers still live in the wild agreed to a program to save the iconic big cats from extinction.

DiCaprio was one of more than 200 people aboard a Moscow-bound Delta airlines flight that had to return to New York's John F. Kennedy airport Sunday when other pilots reported seeing a flash in one engine of the departing plane. The actor then took a private jet that had to land in Finland early Tuesday for refueling because of strong wind, Putin said.

"Not everyone would be willing to take a plane again after what Mr. DiCaprio experienced, but he did," he told the audience at a rock concert dedicated to the tiger conservation effort. "Here, in Russia, we call such a person a 'real man."

"If wildlife and tiger conservation is in the hands of people with such character, we are destined to succeed," he said.

DiCaprio, who watched Putin at St. Peterburg's historic Mikhailovsky theater, committed $1 million to World Wildlife Fund to help support anti-poaching efforts and protect tiger habitat, the group said in a statement Tuesday. DiCaprio has already helped the group raise $20 million for tiger conservation earlier this year, it said.

Russia will toughen its laws against hunting tigers, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said at an international tiger forum in St. Petersburg on Tuesday.

"We plan to toughen laws against both killing tigers and the illegal trading in these animals," Putin said.

He said the program to protect the Amur tiger in the Far East will be "taken into account" by housing and infrastructure developers.

"[The program's] key requirements will be taken into account when preparing programs to develop the Far Eastern territories," he said.

The premier said Russia and China plan to set up cross-border zones so that the countries' population of the Amur tigers can move freely.

There are only 450 Amur tigers left in the wild in Russia's Far East.

He voiced the idea of sharing some of Russia's tiger families with Kazakhstan and Iran.

"Russia's tiger families can start the revival of tiger populations in countries where they have vanished, for example, in Kazakhstan and Iran," Putin said.

"Russia is ready to share its treasures," he went on.

He said efforts to protect the tiger can be an example for larger efforts to protect the environment.

The worldwide tiger population has declined from 100,000 to just over 3,000 over the past century.

The International Tiger Conservation Forum, hosted by the northwestern Russian city of St. Petersburg running November 21-24, is discussing a plan to double the animal's population in 12 years, which will require up to $350 million from the international community.

Putin may be the tiger's champion, but China's Wen Jiabao will decide the species' future

The Amur tiger population in Putin's Russia has bucked the global trend by making an impressive recovery from fewer than 30 in 1945 to about 500 today. It is evidence that the animal can recover if supported by political will and public awareness.

China, by contrast, has not only seen its own population of tigers decline precipitously in the past 50 years, its consumers have also boosted demand for illegally-poached tigers from overseas. Despite banning the tiger trade in 1993, the government has sustained hopes for a resumption of the domestic trade through support for rare-animal farms.

Premier Wen was the only one of the five national leaders at the summit who did not deign to attend the "press conference" (where no questions were allowed). In the summit, he stressed the need for greater enforcement. "All countries should crack down on poaching and illegal trade of tigers," he said. For conservationists, it was a disappointingly vague statement from the country that drives the main demand for tiger products.

Change remains possible. Tiger products have been removed from the pharmacopia of traditional medicine ingredients. Chinese officials are also discussing whether to impose a breeding ban on tiger farms as a step towards changing the way they are managed. This – along with the burning of existing stockpiles of carcasses and more undercover investigations by police – would send a clear signal that the tiger market is closed for business in China.

Wen noted the Chinese government attaches great importance to protecting wild tigers, keeps improving laws and regulations on wild tiger conservation, implements a national recovery plan for wild tigers, builds a network of natural reserves and grassroots protection stations and completely bans tiger hunting, trade in tiger bone or use of tiger bone as medicine. With the concerted efforts of the government and the public, China's wild tiger habitats have been restored and improved effectively, number of wild tigers is growing and conversation has become a conscious action of the public. The Chinese government will strengthen wild tiger protection, raise the number of wild tiger remarkably and cooperate with all countries and relevant international organizations to protect wild tigers and advance the conservation undertaking so as to achieve greater harmony between mankind and nature.